


Poetry Meme

by AllegoriesInMediasRes



Series: Poetically Inspired Half-Drabbles Meme [1]
Category: 16th Century CE RPF, Frozen (2013), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Historical RPF, Maleficent (2014), The Giver Series - Lois Lowry, The Tudors (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Half Drabble, Inspired by Poetry, Meme
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-13
Updated: 2017-06-13
Packaged: 2018-11-13 13:35:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11186205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllegoriesInMediasRes/pseuds/AllegoriesInMediasRes
Summary: A collection of ten half-drabbles inspired by poetry, written for various fandoms.





	Poetry Meme

**Author's Note:**

> The meme itself:
> 
> 1: Pick five fandoms.  
> 2: Visit [this site](http://plagiarist.com/poetry/random/) to find your first RANDOM POEM OF POWER. Write down the 5th line (yes, even if it's an E.E. Cummings poem and you wind up with an apostrophe). Repeat five times and - you guessed it - list 'em in alphabetical order! (No cheating, mind! This is a challenge and it's always been about creativity.)  
> 3: I think you can see where this is going. Write a very quick 50-word half-drabble for each fandom (try to do it all in one sitting - make your brain explode!), using the line from the poem as a prompt. You don't have to include it in the half-drabble - it's just inspiration.  
> 4: Bravo! Have a cookie.
> 
> I did this twice: once by putting the poetry lines in alphabetical order, and once by putting the fandoms themselves in ABC order.

**Tudors:** _His thoughts were bare, his words were brittle,_ _(Rose Leaves, by Robert Service)_

When the messenger comes from Richmond Palace, Henry barricades himself in his chambers, shunning all save stone-faced Katherine. Sitting next to her in guttering candlelight, he grasps for something, _anything_ , to say, but in the end they sit in silence bare and brittle as the empty cradle in their nursery.

 

 **Harry Potter:** _It aims once—kills once—conquers once— (_ _'Twas fighting for his Life he was—, by Emily Dickinson)_

Minerva has been at Hogwarts so long that she can feel keenly when it is threatened, her blood throbbing slightly harder. Tonight her pulse is quicker than a cat pursuing a mouse, and knowing that once Hogwarts is conquered, it shall never rise compels her wand to work even faster.

 

 **Frozen:** _like a kettle, rivers overrun; still, (Dark August, by Derek Walcott)_

The magic has always been bubbling inside Elsa like an underground spring. Anna is the faucet, the spigot, the valve that channels her fount into a gentle brook. But when the door slams shut and Anna is gone, the fount overruns its banks, spilling over and gushing out in torrents.

 

 **Giver:** _Loving offenders, thus I will excuse ye: (_ _Sonnet 42: That thou hast her, it is not all my grief, by William Shakespeare)_

Jonas shouts and yells and rages. He curses The Giver, accusing and mocking him. But the old man knows that beneath Jonas’ anger is raw grief for his world that has burned to ashes, and so he forgives Jonas his cruel words, only waiting patiently for his fury to ebb.

 

 **Maleficent:** _The oilstove falls, the rain, (Mad Day in March, by Philip Levine)_

A shriek rises from the small cottage, followed by a plume of smoke. Diaval shakes his head and with a half-sigh, half-caw, he soars through the open window, trying to figure out how he will upright a fallen oilstove, put out a fire, and protect Aurora all without being seen.

 

* * *

**Frozen:** _His thoughts were bare, his words were brittle,_ _(Rose Leaves, by Robert Service)_

King Adgar comes from a long line of rulers who knew how to set aside their feelings, and he follows their example to perfection when the time comes, giving out orders to reduce the staff and barricade the castle. His mind is bare of all save his aims and goals.

 

 **Giver:** _It aims once—kills once—conquers once— (_ _'Twas fighting for his Life he was—, by Emily Dickinson)_

The community is a carefully constructed bubble of peace, its occupants blissfully content in their structured lives. Such a utopia is the fruit of arduous, arduous preparation. But all it takes is one memory, one single concentrated droplet of color and vibrancy and visceral emotion, to puncture that bubble forever.

 

 **Harry Potter:** _like a kettle, rivers overrun; still, (Dark August, by Derek Walcott)_

“Do you ever wonder what would happen if the lake flooded over?” Ron asks, one lazy summer day, sprawled on the shores.

Hermione snorts. “It’s a _lake_ , Ronald, only rivers flood over.” But she laces her fingers through his anyways, as they watch the giant squid frolicking in the water.

 

 **Maleficent:** _Loving offenders, thus I will excuse ye: (_ _Sonnet 42: That thou hast her, it is not all my grief, by William Shakespeare)_

Her screams echo in his ears long after Stefan has returned to his own kingdom. Her wings rustle softly in the pack swung over his back. Specters of doubt rise in his mind, but he banishes them. _It was an act of love,_ he tells himself firmly, _kindness, not cruelty._

 

 **Tudors:** _The oilstove falls, the rain, (Mad Day in March, by Philip Levine)_

Sometimes at night, when Mary lies in her too-small cot in her too-small chamber, she imagines hurling the candle on her nightstand to the ground and watching Hatfield House burn. She never acts on the impulse, of course, but it still sends a shiver of a thrill down her spine.

**Author's Note:**

> I take requests for this meme, but ultimately my muse acts as its own entity, and I can't make any promises.


End file.
